Just Six Months
by AngelD88
Summary: Gabriella thought everything was going good in her life, but then she gets horrible news. News that could not only change her life, but the life of all her friends and family. Will she be able to handle it?
1. Seeing My Tears

A/N: Hi everybody. This is my first fanfic, so please, please, please review! If you hate it, tell me, but just give any ideas for improvement! I know this chapter is kind of short, but the next ones will be longer, this is just the introduction.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but this plot

Gabriella Montez stared out her window as a few tears ran down her face and splattered as they hit her hands. She was still trying to comprehend what she had found out, even though it had happened a week ago. It just didn't seem possible, or fair for that matter. She was too young, something seemed wrong.

She had been moping around since she found out. She hadn't left her room for the past week, excluding meals and bathroom trips. She had received numerous calls from Troy and Taylor. Chad had called once or twice too, and even Sharpay had tried to find out where she had been all week. She had ordered her mom not to tell them anything, and even stood by the phone while her mom just told them that she didn't know when Gabriella would be back in school.

Her mom had tried convincing Gabriella to at least talk to them for a few minutes. She didn't have to tell them anything yet, but saying something would at least make her feel better. Gabriella didn't want to talk to anybody though, it would be too hard.

"Gabriella?"

Gabriella jumped a little at the sound of a voice and turned around to see Troy standing in the doorway. She wiped at her eyes, trying to hide her signs of crying, but her attempts were useless.

"Your mom let me up," he said quietly. She didn't answer, and instead just turned around and gazed out the window again.

"Gabriella...please...tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help," he said softly as he walked a little closer to her.

Still glaring out the window, she shook her head and sobbed a little. "You can't," she whispered.

He didn't answer. He didn't really know what to say or do, he didn't even have a clue what was wrong, but he wasn't going to force it out of her. That wouldn't help at all.

He quietly sat next to her on the window seat and wiped away a few of her tears with his thumb. She turned around so she was directly facing him, but she couldn't look into his eyes.

"It was just supposed to be a check up," she whispered. "But then something was wrong, and I had to go to a specialist." she stopped to take a few deep breaths.

"Troy..." she started, but stopped to wipe more tears from her eyes, she couldn't tell him. Telling him would just make it feel more definite.

"Six months," she said with a sob.

"Six months for what, Gabriella?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes, as if trying to forget. "To live," she whispered so quietly it was barely audible.

"W..What?" he asked, trying to take in what he had just heard. "Are you sure?"

She wiped her eyes with a tissue and slowly nodded. Troy was shocked, he didn't know what to do, so he did the only thing he could think of, and he hugged her. Gabriella sobbed into his chest, her tears soaking his shirt as he slowly rubbed her back.

His head was bursting with questions. What exactly did she have? Was it cancer? It had to be cancer. Wasn't there treatment? A cure? Anything at all?

It didn't seem fair. Gabriella was too young to die. Why her? Of all the people in the world, why her, when she had never done a single thing to hurt anybody?

He sat quietly as she cried, thinking everything over. Something had to be wrong. Didn't doctors make mistakes all the time? Maybe she had been diagnosed with the wrong thing. She was perfectly healthy, something _had_ to be off.

"I don't want to die, Troy," she whispered, "I don't want to die."

A/N: Raview! I'll post the next chpter after I get some reviews.


	2. The Sun never fails to Shine

A/N: Hi everybody. For all my reviewers, thank you so much! I'm so glad you all like it. Also thank you to all of you who read my story but didn't review it. I appreciate all of the positive feedback I got.

Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.

Chapter Two

Ms. Montez paced around her kitchen, looking distractedly through her cabinets for some kind of cookies. Even if she found cookies, she probably wouldn't have noticed them anyway. She was too busy thinking. She hoped Gabriella wouldn't be too upset with her for letting Troy up, but Ms. Montez knew Gabriella needed to talk to somebody. She had barely said two words all week, not that she didn't have an excuse, but it would just make her feel so much better to talk, especially to her friends. She didn't want Gabriella's last six months to be miserable, and to enjoy them she _needed_ her friends.

Ms. Montez brushed a few tears from her face as she checked another cabinet. She had cried more than Gabriella during the past week, but only when she was alone. When Gabriella was around, she knew she had to be strong. It was so hard though, knowing that in less than a year nothing would ever be the same. How could she pretend to be happy when she knew everything her only daughter was going through?

She found a box of chocolate chip cookies in the next cabinet, and after putting them on the table, headed upstairs to Gabriella's room. She opened the door to see Troy and Gabriella move apart, breaking some kind of embrace. As she saw the two tear-stained faces staring up at her, she desperately wished she could change reality. She wished she could tell them it was all a joke, that everything would be perfectly fine. But she couldn't change the truth, so she sighed and said "Why don't you come downstairs, we can all talk for a little while."

The trio silently went downstairs and sat down at the table and Ms. Montez handed them each a couple of cookies. There was a few minutes of silence. Nobody really knew what to say. Troy didn't know if it was the right time to ask the millions of questions floating through his mind. He didn't want to do anything that could possibly upset Gabriella or her mother.

"How much did you tell him, sweetie?" Ms. Montez asked, breaking the silence.

Gabriella looked down and shook her head. "Not much," she said quietly. Ms. Montez nodded and sighed, and Troy noticed her blink back a few tears.

"Is it cancer?" he asked suddenly, and immediately regretted it as he noticed Gabriella wince at the word.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's alright Troy," Ms. Montez said, "And yes, it is cancer."

"What...kind?" he asked.

Gabriella shook her head. "I don't want to talk specifics, we can't do anything about it anyway," she said. Talking about it hurt. It was like a reminder of her fate every time the word cancer was used.

"Isn't there treatment? I mean so many people live through cancer, there has to be something." Troy said. He wasn't willing to give up. He felt like something was wrong, like any minute now Gabriella and her mother would start laughing and yell "Fooled ya!" But there was no laughter, and no yelling. There was just tears.

Gabriella shook her head, but didn't elaborate. Troy looked over at Ms. Montez.

She looked at Troy, and with a shaky breath said "There is treatment...but it just won't do anything. They suggested that she not do anything, and just try to enjoy her...time. If she was treated she'd be sick all the time and it just wouldn't be worth it."

"So...that's it? There's nothing else you can do?" he asked.

Gabriella shook her head sadly. She still hadn't looked up, she had been staring at her untouched cookie the entire time.

"They told me to enjoy what I had left, but it's _so _hard to do that. How can I enjoy it knowing that I'll be gone before my next birthday." she said as tears started coming down her face again.

"Don't talk like that! Please Gabriella, you have to be strong, you _need_ to be strong." Troy said, as he took her hands in his.

Gabriella shook her head and sobbed. "It's no use," she whispered.

"No, Gabriella, you don't...don't want to waste your time. I'm gonna be with you _whenever_ you want. Me and Taylor, Chad, Kelsi, whoever, we're _all_ going to be here. Please don't give up." he pleaded as he also started crying. He didn't want to see Gabriella like this. She was falling apart. At that moment he felt like he would do anything to help her, even if it meant cutting off his own arms and legs.

Gabriella stayed quiet. "Troy..." she started, as if she was unsure of something.

"Gabriella, please. We'll do whatever you want, even if it means swimming through shark infested waters. Whatever makes you happy. Please, Gabriella, please don't give up." he said.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. And then she did something nobody expected. Something she hadn't done in over a week. She smiled. "I won't,"

A/N: Now go review! I personally wasn't thrilled with the way this chapter came out, but it was hard to write. Tell me what you think, please review!


	3. Of Roller Coasters and Hugs

A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry about the delay getting this chapter up, things have been a little hectic lately. I want to thank everybody who reviewed my last two chapters, I'm so happy with all of them. Some of you have given me such great reviews! I get excited each time I see another email from Anyway, did everybody hear the news? There is definitely going to be a sequal to High School Musical, and the cast is already signed! It's not planning to air until next January, but it gives us something to look foward to, right?

Annyways-Disclaimer: I don't own anyhting but the plot.

Chapter Three

Troy stood staring up at the huge roller coaster that loomed above him. He tried to figure out how he had gotten himself into having to ride it. Roller coasters were _not_ his thing. Any other ride would have been perfectly fine, but Troy was horrible with roller coasters. They went way too fast and way too high, all at the same time. People weren't supposed to be thrown down hills and through loops at crazy speeds, it wasn't natural. But of course Gabriella wanted to go on every single ride in the park, and of course the biggest roller coaster was the one she wanted to ride first.

He couldn't say no either. After he had left Gabriella's house the night before, he had called Chad, Taylor, and Kelsie, with Gabriella's permission of course, and told them the news. They had taken it pretty much as he expected. Taylor and Kelsie cried, Chad was shocked and speechless. Then, shortly after, Gabriella had called Troy, sounding very happy, and said she wasn't wasting another second, and she wanted to go to an amusement park as soon as possible. Troy had agreed right away and again called Chad, Taylor and Kelsie.

Chad and Taylor agreed to come, but Kelsie had other plans. Gabriella had also decided she still wanted to do the musical, so Kelsie wanted to stay home and work on making rehearsals easier for Troy and Gabriella, and getting things ready for it. Now Troy wished he would've stayed back with her.

"So exactly how does this work again?" Troy asked Gabriella as he nervously shuffled his feet. He had seen the roller coaster go a few times now, and he was pretty much dreading it.

Gabriella smiled. "You sit in the car. Then, it moves."

"Haha," Troy said sarcastically, " no seriously, just explain it one more time."

"Ok , the car sits perfectly still, than in less than two seconds, it's going at seventy miles an hour. It goes up a hill and goes down a vertical drop, then the rides almost over." Gabriella said. She tried to make it sound casual, she didn't want Troy to back out.

Troy took in a sharp breath. "How about we find Chad and Taylor, I'm sure they'd be willing to go on with you."

"They wandered off after we ate lunch. I don't even know where they went." Gabriella said, which wasn't a lie. She hadn't seen them in a half hour.

"I'm sure if we call Kelsie she could probably get here in like twenty minutes..."

Gabriella cut Troy off. "Troy," she groaned, "If you really don't want to go on that much, I'll go on myself. It won't be _too_ bad without you..."

Troy sighed. He wasn't going to make her go on alone. "No, I'll come, I'll come."

Gabriella gave him a huge smile and pulled him onto the line. He nervously paced in a small circle as they got closer to the entrance. He pulled at his hair, and kicked the ground as he took a few shaky breaths trying to calm himself down. He despised roller coasters, but he wanted to make Gabriella happy. He would regret it so much if he let her go on by herself, knowing the circumstances.

Gabriella giggled a little at the sight of Troy's nervous habits. She had never really seen him nervous. He had been a little nervous at the karoke the night they met...but nothing like this. It was pretty funny.

"Are you seriously not nervous at all?" Troy asked her.

She giggled a little again. "I am a _little_ nervous, but I'm not as bad as you. You don't have to go on, you know."

He took another deep breath. "No, no, I...I want to." he stuttered as they moved up the line again.

Gabriella just giggled again. After a few more minutes of Troy pacing around, they reached the end of the line, and slipped into the bright red roller coaster car. He took a few deep breaths as the guy made sure they were secured in.

"Get ready, you don't know when it's going to start," Gabriella said with a small laugh.

Troy didn't answer. Instead he closed his eyes and gripped the handle bar tighter. Gabriella giggled a little and held out her hand towards Troy. He smiled at her and squeezed it instead of the handle.

The next thing he knew, he was being pulled so fast he thought his neck would snap. He squeezed his eyes shut as he was then thrown forward again so fast he felt like he was falling. His stomach dropped sharply as a load of pressure was pushed upon him. He felt Gabriella squeeze his hand tighter and heard her scream. He was too nervous to do anything but close his eyes and wait until it was over.

Suddenly, he was lurched forward and he was sitting still again. He opened his eyes and looked around. Gabriella smiled at him.

"So, are you alright?" She asked him as she fixed her hair, which had blown around during the ride.

Troy blinked a few times and didn't say anything. Gabriella giggled and lifted her arm. Troy's arm automatically went up because he was still tightly squeezing her hand.

"Troy, you can hold my hand later, but right now we have to get out of the car" Gabriella giggled.

Troy nodded, let go of her hand and hopped out of the ride. "I will never go on something like that again!" he said as Gabriella caught up to him. His legs were still shaking from being so nervous as he walked towards a bench and sat down.

Gabriella giggled. "It was a _little_ rough, but it was fun!" Troy motioned for her to sit down next to him on the bench, but she shook her head.

"We have so many more rides to hit! No resting, come on!" She said as she pulled him up off the bench. She wanted to go on every single ride in the park before it closed. They wouldn't accomplish that by sitting on benches.

"Fine, but I'm taking you up on that offer you made earlier." Troy said with a small grin.

Gabriella looked confused. "What offer?"

"You said I could hold your hand again after we got off the ride," he said as he took his hand in hers. Gabriella blushed and looked at the ground.

"Uh...right," she said embarrassed. She hadn't really expected Troy to take that seriously, but she was actually glad he did as she felt the warmth of his hand next to hers. "You can choose the next ride."

Troy shrugged. "You choose, this is for you anyway. Why was this the first thing you wanted to do anyway? Just for the thrill of it?" He regretted asking as he noticed her face fall.

Gabriella sighed. "Actually, before I moved here, I was really good friends with this girl Natalie. Once, when we were around seven, my Mom took us to an amusement park. She and I only went on a few rides, the others were too scary or we just didn't have time, and we always wondered what it would be like to ride very ride in the park." We agreed that even if it was the last thing we did, we _had_ to ride very ride in an amusement park and tell the other about it. I didn't realize it _would_ be one of the last things I did when we said that though."

"Gabriella," Troy started, but Gabriella cut him off. "I know Troy, you don't want me to say things like that, but I can't help it. It's the truth."

Troy sighed and kept quiet for a minute. He knew it was true, but it made it worse if she mentioned it every day, for him and her. "Well, today we are going to ride all the rides, so there's no time to think bad thoughts."

Gabriella sighed, and then nodded and leaned in to hug him.. "Thanks for being here," she whispered into his ear.

He smiled into her hair. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."

A/N: Ok everybody, Go review! I probably won't have the next chapter up until next week, so don't worry if you don't see an update. For those of you who were worried that I would stop writing this story, don't worry. I would never give up on one of my stories. I do have occasional writer's block, but I think it's fun to work past it.


	4. Green with Envy

A/N: Hey Everybody! I'm sure none of you want to hear me babble about something pointless, so I'll just thank my reviewers. Thank you to everybody has reviewed and everybody who has read the story but not left a review. I have a lot more hits on this story than reviews, so please, please leave a review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the plot

Chapter Four

"If this keeps up, we'll be here until the park closes," Chad said as a groan escaped his mouth.

Gabriella tilted to the side so she could see the rest of the line for the ride they were waiting for. It _was_ really long, but she didn't want to get off now. They were half-way there, and they had been waiting for forty minutes already. About twenty minutes after Gabriella and Troy had gotten on line, Chad and Taylor met up with them, mumbling excuses about having to find a cotton candy stand. It didn't take three hours to find a cotton candy stand though.

"Can't we come back later?" Chad asked Troy, who turned to Gabriella.

"No! We only have three more rides to hit," Gabriella said, "And we only have half an hour left before closing, it's too late to get off now."

"I'm sorry to tell you, but at this point, we'll be on this line until closing," Taylor said, her body shifting as she looked down the rest of the line.

Gabriella shrugged. "I _have _to get on every ride, other wise this trip was pointless," she said, her face falling a little, "there's gotta be some way to do this."

"Well," Taylor said to Gabriella, her voice getting lower, "I'll tell you what I do know, the guy running this ride has been staring at you the entire time."

Gabriella's cheeks tinged pink a little, but she turned to look at the boy running the ride. Sure enough, his eyes were glued to her. He gave her a smile, and she returned the gesture but looked down at the ground, her cheeks growing even redder.

"This is perfect," Chad said, his voice now free of boredom, "Just go up and ask him to let us on sooner."

"What?" Troy asked, turning around sharply and almost knocking Taylor down in the process, "We can just wait, it won't be too much longer."

Chad rolled his eyes and looked at Gabriella for an answer. She looked back at the boy. He was still looking at her, maybe it would be a good idea just to get on the ride quicker. Seeing her looking, the boy lifted his hand and waved her over.

"Come with me," Gabriella said as she grabbed Taylor's arm and made her way through the line to the guy.

Troy watched anxiously from his position on the line as Gabriella and Taylor chatted with the stranger. His face contorted with jealousy as Gabriella giggled at something the guy said. Her hair bounced around as she laughed and she gently put her hand on the guy's arm. Troy's scowl deepened as he continued to watch Gabriella flirt with somebody other than himself.

Gabriella then leaned up on her toes, giving herself an extra inch in height, and kissed the guy on the cheek. The guy moved aside and Gabriella waved Chad and Troy over.

"Yes!" Chad said excitement dripping from his voice as him and Troy worked their way through the line. They followed Gabriella's lead into the spinning car.

"Nice job," Chad said to Gabriella. Gabriella took a pretend bow, and then noticed Troy, sitting with his arms crossed and frowning. She didn't have time to say anything, because the ride started moving and she was too busy getting dizzy.

They luckily hit the few rides they hadn't gone on in the remaining half hour. Gabriella was ecstatic, and while they were waiting for the bus home, she called her friend Natalie, and talked until the bus came. Once they got on, she took a seat next to Troy and across from Chad and Taylor, who were playfully arguing about something.

"Are you alright, Troy?" she asked. He had been quiet since that ride with the long ride, and she wasn't really sure why. He knew that she had only talked to that guy to get on the ride...right?

His lips curved into a half smile as he gave Gabriella a small nod. Gabriella knew he was lying, but didn't want to press so they took the rest of the ride in silence.

As they got off, Chad and Taylor headed in the opposite direction, and Troy and Gabriella headed down the road in silence.

"I'll walk you home," Troy said, "it's late."

Gabriella nodded and after a few more minutes, she broke the silence. "You know you're a terrible liar"

Troy didn't answer, he knew what she was talking about.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Why don't you go ask your boyfriend," Troy said, his voice filled with jealousy.

"My what?...Oh that's what this is about," Gabriella said, finally realizing Troy was jealous.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Troy said bitterly.

"Troy," Gabriella said quietly, "I'm not blind, I can tell you're not too pleased about that stupid guy."

"You can talk to whoever you want, I don't really care," he said, speeding up and walking ahead of her on the sidewalk.

"Troy!" Gabriella said, her voice getting a little louder, "Don't be like this."

"Be like what?" he asked, walking even faster.

"Jealous!" Gabriella said, her voice escalating even higher as she walked faster, trying to catch up to him.

"I'm not jealous," Troy muttered under his breath, "I just can't believe you kissed that guy." he added, louder this time.

Gabriella's cheeks turned red, partly out of anger, partly because she was embarrassed. "On the cheek!" she yelled, "And only so we could get on the stupid ride!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Troy said, the sarcasm evident in his voice, "I wasn't aware it was okay to kiss random guys as long as it was for a good purpose."

Gabriella gasped and stopped trying to catch up to him, they were in front of her house now anyway. That had stung. He knew how important that day had been to her, and now he was making into something it wasn't. She closed her eyes, willing the tears not to come out.

Troy heard her footsteps stop behind her, and slowly turned around. He saw her standing there, partially crying and felt a pang of guilt. He didn't want her to have any pain if he could help it in the next six months, and he had already let his feelings hurt her.

He turned around so he was facing her directly. They stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Troy wanted to apologize but didn't know how, now that he was just staring at her.

Gabriella was angry and hurt. Suddenly, Troy's face was right next to her own, his lips upon hers. At first she was too shocked to do anything, but she slowly kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Troy didn't know what had come over him. He hadn't really meant to kiss Gabriella, it had just _happened_. She probably hated him at that moment, first he hurt her then he kissed her...

"I'm sorry," Troy said, out of breath, as he slowly pulled away from Gabriella. "I was jealous, you were right."

"You're forgiven," Gabriella said quickly, as she leaned in and kissed him again. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the fact that she was kissing Troy Bolton.

A/N: Go ahead, review!


	5. Chocolate solves Everything

A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay of this chapter. I wanted to get it up a few days ago, but I couldn't get into the site. It's obviosuly working for me again, so here you go.

Disclaimer: It's not mine

Chapter 5

"Troy?"

There was no response form the mass of blankets.

"Troy?"

Still no response.

"Troy!"

Troy jumped up in shock as he saw his mother standing at the foot of his bed holding the phone. He sleepily rubbed his eyes and looked at the time, 10:07.

"It's Gabriella," his mother said as she handed him the phone with a sly smile. She had been bugging him since he met Gabriella to invite her over for dinner. Troy tried to avoid it every time the subject came up, for his and Gabriella's sake.

Troy rolled his eyes at is mother. "Hello?" he mumbled into the phone.

"Hey Troy!" Gabriella's perky voice said through the phone. Troy didn't know how she could be so happy in the morning. It had been pretty late by the time he had gotten home the night before. It had already been late when he brought Gabriella home, not to mention they had spent more than a few minutes outside, only to be interrupted by Ms. Montez. She had heard something outside and wanted to see what it was, much to Troy's embarrassment. After mumbling a quick goodbye he had taken off down the block, and a few seconds later Ms. Montez and Gabriella pulled up in their car insisting that they drive him home.

"What are you doing today?" Gabriella asked, her pleasant voice quickly waking Troy up.

"Nothing."

"Good," she said, "Meet me at my house at noon."

"Why?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. He knew she was probably planning some crazy thing that he wouldn't like.

"It's a surprise."

"If you have me riding huge roller coasters..."

Gabriella's soft laugh came through the phone. "No, don't worry, it's nothing like that," she said.

"Ok, See you then, I guess," Troy said, the doubt evident in his voice.

"Ok bye," she said, "Oh wait, Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't eat anything before you meet me."

"What? Why?" he asked, but it was too late, there had already been a click and Gabriella was no longer on the line.

"Where are you taking me?" Troy asked as he followed Gabriella down the sidewalk. He had been following her for ten minutes and he still had no clue where they were going.

She playfully rolled her eyes "I told you the last six times you asked," she said. "It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises," he said, adding a puppy dog face, "Please tell me."

"No!" Gabriella said with a laugh, "Don't guilt me into it, we're almost there."

Troy shrugged and continued following Gabriella. She soon stopped in front of a small place with a pink and white striped awning. The place was labeled in big, fancy, gold letters, and there was a small sign outside with the daily specials on it.

"Café Bella? Isn't this place really expensive?" Troy asked as Gabriella started to head inside.

She shrugged. "I have been wanting to eat here for the longest time. My mom gave me money, she...well you know, the circumstances and everything...she just wants me to be happy. So don't worry, I'm paying."

Troy shrugged and followed Gabriella inside. A lanky man wearing a suit too small for him and a tie that didn't match hustled over to the pair as they entered, tripping on the carpet on his way.

"Just the two of you?" he asked bitterly, obviously not in the best of moods.

Gabriella smiled and nodded. "Yes, just us."

The man closed his eyes and sighed loudly, and then grabbed two menus and shuffled in another direction. Troy and Gabriella glanced at each other, and hesitantly followed the man, who led them to a small table in the corner. He handed them menus and then shuffled off again.

Gabriella giggled a little and took the menu from Troy's hands as he began to look through it.

"Hey!" he said "I'm hungry!"

She laughed again, "Trust me, you won't need it."

He raised his eyebrows in confusion, but went along with her anyway. He wasn't sure what she was planning on ordering, but he was hungry, he didn't care.

"Can I get you anything?"

Troy jumped at the sound of the waiters monotone voice behind him.

"Yes," Gabriella said pleasantly, "We'll take one of every dessert one your menu."

"What?" the waiter squeaked out in surprise.

"One of every..."

"Yes, I heard you," the waiter said sarcastically. "Often people use the word 'what' when they are surprised or as an interrogative expression when they are unsure of something, such as the absurd idea of ordering every single dessert..."

Gabriella cut him off. "Yes sir, I'm sorry, but you can be sure. I would like every dessert please."

"Well, Miss, I'm sorry but are you _aware_ that what you are ordering consists of ten slices of cheesecake and six _other_ desserts."

Gabriella just smiled and nodded.

The waiter sighed loudly again and scribbled angrily in his note pad. "Fine then. Every dessert it is." he said, as he turned around sharply and walked away, managing to trip again, this time on his shoe lace.

"Wow," Troy said as the waiter left, "that's a lot of cake."

Gabriella smiled. "And we are going to eat it all, today the word calorie does not exist."

Troy grinned. "That sounds great."

"So," Gabriella said with a small sigh, "we need to talk."

"About?"

"Us," she said.

"Is there an 'us'?" Troy asked uncertainly. Things had been weird between them, they always seemed to be more than friends but never dating. Then there had been that kiss the night before, he still wasn't sure what that meant.

"That's what we need to talk about," Gabriella said, her voice falling a little, I don't..." She paused, at an apparent loss for words.

Troy noticed she looked upset. Maybe he shouldn't have kissed her last night, maybe she wasn't ready for something like that. Now that he thought about it, it seemed stupid, even selfish. She had so much going on and all he could do was kiss her, stand there like an idiot and selfishly kiss her. She had kissed back though...

"I'm sorry," Troy said quickly, automatically thinking she was mad at him

Gabriella raised her eyebrows. "For what?"

Troy looked confused. "You're not mad at me then?" he asked.

Gabriella shook her head. "Troy...it's just," she stopped and looked down at the table. It was so hard to talk about things like this. "I'm going to die, Troy, we can't deny this and it'd just be easier if.." she stopped and gave a big sigh, and covered her face by putting it in her hands.

"Gabriella..." Troy started, "Just forget it, we don't have to talk about this." he said. She was getting upset. He didn't want to see her upset.

"No, Troy," Gabriella said , taking a deep breath, "When...I...when... it happens, I just think it would be easier if we didn't...get too close."

"It's kind of late for that, isn't it?" Troy asked quietly, his hand sliding across the table to meet hers.

Gabriella however pulled her hand back. "Troy, it will hurt more," she said, forcing back tears, "if we get too close. It would just be easier if we stayed friends"

Troy knew she was right, but he didn't want to stay friends. His feelings were too strong for that, and he knew Gabriella didn't want to either. She was doing it for his sake and he knew it.

"Gabriella," he said softly, "What do you _really _want to do? "

Gabriella however didn't have time to answer because their waiter, followed by three others, traveled to their table with multiple trays of food. They squeezed all of the plates filled with cakes, ice cream, brownies and more on the table, and the other three waiters left, but the one from earlier waited around.

"Children these days," he mumbled as he bent down to tie his shoe, standing next to the table. "Think they rule the world. They don't know what's good for them. The two of you are perfect example," he muttered under his breath as he arose. He gave Troy and Gabriella dirty looks and shuffled away again.

"There's no way we'll finish all of this," Troy said, ignoring the waiter, as he observed the food on the table. There were ten colossal slices of cheesecake, each a different kind. Troy wasn't really sure what flavors they all were, but one looked like it was chocolate and had bits of fudge in it. Besides the cheesecake, there were other tremendous desserts, the smallest of which was three scoops of ice cream with a brownie on top, then three more scoops of ice cream on that brownie, and another brownie to top that ice cream. It was like a brownie tower, and that was the smallest dessert there.

Troy looked up at Gabriella, who was already starting on a different slice of cake.

"Dig in," she said, handing him a spoon, which he took and grabbed a spoonful of ice cream with.

"Gabriella," he said, "You never answered my question."

"Troy," she said, "It doesn't matter, forget I brought this up, things should just stay the same as they have been."

"Yes it does! Gabriella, I really like you, and if you don't feel the same then fine, but thought we were trying to enjoy this while it lasts. I'd rather spend this time with you then know I had the chance and never did."

Gabriella shoved another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "Fine then, " she said, staring into his eyes.

"Fine? Fine what?" Troy asked.

"I want to be your girlfriend," she said, her voice softening, "But..."

"Why is there always a 'but' just when somebody says something good?" Troy groaned.

Gabriella let out a small laugh. " All I was going to say," she said, "Was that I don't think you should tell your dad because I don't think he likes me very much."

Troy laughed. "You're going to drive me crazy for the next few months, aren't you?"

Gabriella smiled "Definitely."

A/N: I know this chapter wasn't the best, it was kind of a filler chapter until I get to bigger stuff. Review anyway!


	6. Misery Loves Me

A/N: Hello again. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I'll _try_ to have the next one up within a week, but don't worry if I don't. I'm not giving up, just taking a little longer.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

An hour and a half later, Troy and Gabriella were stuffed. Plates spread across the table, filled with only the remains of cake, ice cream, brownies and chocolate. Troy sat lazily in his seat, the thought of eating another bite making him sick. He had never eaten so much in one sitting, and even though he had enjoyed it, he couldn't even stand to look at the food.

Troy looked around for the nuisance of a waiter so they could get the check, but he was nowhere in sight. He scanned the restaurant with his eyes, not seeing their waiter. Instead of the waiter, however, he saw Sharpay coming into the restaurant, her heels clicking loudly on the hard floor, her blonde hair bouncing up and down.

"Hello Antonio," she said to Troy and Gabriella's waiter, who had quickly popped up when he saw Sharpay come in.

"Hello Miss Evans, is it just you today?" He said politely to her, much to Troy's annoyance. He had been anything but polite to Gabriella and himself.

"No," Sharpay said with a smile, "I'm actually looking for someone. Have you seen two people around my age come in? A boy and a girl?"

The waiter sighed and whispered something to Sharpay as he pointed towards Troy and Gabriella . Sharpay thanked him and headed in their direction, her heels clicking even louder.

She approached the table and leaned right into Gabriella's face. "Where were you all of last week?" she asked, her tone rather accusing, her eyes challenging Gabriella's.

Gabriella raised her eyebrows at the surprise of Sharpay, but smiled and answered anyway. "I wasn't feeling too good," she said casually, not wanting to tell Sharpay the truth.

Sharpay sighed loudly. "Ok, even though I'm just an understudy, for some absurd reason might I add," she said knowingly, "I do still care about how this show comes out. Since you missed school all week, you also missed rehearsal. It's _very_ important that you attend rehearsal. Have you ever heard of a show that's been performed well without rehearsal?" She said, staring at Gabriella for a response.

"Sharpay..." Gabriella started, but was cut off by another loud sigh from Sharpay.

"Being an understudy," she said bitterly, "I am still attending rehearsals. I need to observe how things are going, but that's impossible if the main character is not there."

"Sharpay lay off, she'll be there tomorrow," Troy said, trying to save Gabriella from Sharpay's lecture.

Sharpay did stop, but then turned to stare Troy down instead. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe you weren't there either Troy," she said, drumming her nails on the table.

"Well I figured there wasn't a point since Gabriella wasn't there," Troy said, backing up a little to escape Sharpay's glare.

Sharpay closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "There is _always_ a reason to be at rehearsals. Look, all I'm saying is that if you two aren't committed to this, Ryan and I wouldn't _mind_ taking over..."

"Don't worry Sharpay, we'll be there tomorrow," Troy said, causing Sharpay's face to fall.

"Fine then," she answered, the envy clear in her voice, "Fine, but I'm warning you, Miss Darbus was getting frustrated by the end of the week too, I'm not the only one and I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to kick you out either."

"She was sick! She couldn't help it." Troy said, anger rising in his voice. If only Sharpay knew the truth.

Sharpay rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh please. What did she have, a cold? It's not like she's _dying_, she would've been fine."

Gabriella gasped at the harsh words from Sharpay. _It's not like she's dying _It seemed like every time she was happy about something, she got a reminder about her treacherous fate. She knew that Sharpay didn't know about anything, she hadn't meant anything, but it hurt anyway. She knew she was going to die, she heard it in her head fifty times a day, but it somehow hurt more hearing it from other people. It made it more definite, more real, that in six months she wouldn't be sitting here with Troy and arguing with Sharpay.

Sure she could still be happy, trying to do as much as she could in six months, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt anymore, that the thought never crossed her mind anymore. It did. And it hurt each time. She still wondered every day why it had to be her, why this was happening at all. She tried not to let it affect her though. She pushed the thoughts away and enjoyed what ever she was doing at the moment. But something about the way Sharpay said it, something about her tone, made it seem ten times worse. Maybe it was because she had never heard somebody actually say it. She herself had said it plenty of times, to Troy, to her mom, but it was worse when somebody else said it. Everybody else was careful of their words when they were around her, Sharpay didn't know, all she was dong was using a stupid expression.

She forced tears back into her eyes as she threw her purse at Troy. "Pay from my wallet, I'll wait outside," she said quickly as she pushed her chair back and darted from the restaurant, brushing tears from her face hoping Troy and Sharpay didn't see her crying.

She didn't wait outside like she said, she needed to walk, to think, to get away. So she kept walking, with no destination in mind.

"Oh...wow...I'm so sorry, I had no idea," Sharpay said, stunned at what Troy had just told her about Gabriella. She mentally kicked herself for being such an idiot. If she had known she would have never made a comment like that. She may have been jealous of Troy and Sharpay, but she wouldn't hurt them intentionally.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked, still shocked at the news.

"You can get your friend Antonio over here so we can go back outside to find Gabriella." Troy said, getting annoyed with the waiters frequent disappearances.

Sharpay had him over in the next few seconds, but they didn't get out of there for ten more minutes. After Troy had paid him there was some problem with the register, so he didn't reappear for five more minutes, and then when he did come back he brought the wrong amount of change. He excused himself and said he'd be right back with the correct change, but then stopped and talked to another waiter for minutes, leaving Sharpay and Troy very anxious, until Sharpay got up herself and went to get the change. She was still really upset about Gabriella, and she wanted to go find her and apologize. When the waiter had seen her heading towards the back of the restaurant, he apologized and got them their change.

Troy and Sharpay emerged from the restaurant to see Gabriella nowhere in sight. They walked around the surrounding blocks with no luck, and resolved to call Ms. Montez to see if she had gone home. They couldn't even call her cell phone because it was in her bag which she had given to Troy.

"Hello?" Ms. Montez asked over the phone.

"Hi Ms. Montez."

"Hi Troy, how are you?"

Troy paused. He didn't want to upset Ms. Montez if Gabriella wasn't there, but he didn't really have a choice. "Is Gabriella there?"

"No, I thought she was with you?" Ms. Montez asked, sounding a little worried.

Troy winced. This couldn't be good. "Well she was, but she said she'd wait outside the restaurant, but she's not around."

"Oh God"

Gabriella had walked in circles until she wound up at a park not too far from her house. She stood at the edge of a lake, tears streaming down her face. She knew Troy was probably going crazy looking for her but she just didn't care. They would comfort her now, but what about ten, twenty years down the road? Would they still remember her? Would she just be a faint memory from their past? The girl that died so young?

She could picture it now. All of her friends would be grown and married, have wonderful families and wonderful jobs. They'd be talking about high school and one of them would remember her briefly.

"Do you remember that girl we were friends with in high school, I think her name started with a G"

"Gabriella! Oh yeah I remember her, what had happened to her?"

"You don't remember? She had cancer, she didn't have a chance."

"Oh, yeah, such a shame. What were we? Fifteen? Sixteen?"

"Yeah something like that, it was terrible."

"Yeah she was a nice girl, right?"

Gabriella could see it now. Sure they would grieve at first, miss her like crazy. But then they would move on with their lives, and she would just be a small memory. She didn't want to be remembered like that. They would all get to go to college, travel, have kids, experience what ever they wanted in life. And her? She wouldn't get to do any of that. She wouldn't live to do any of it.

She looked down at her watch. It had been forty five minutes since she had left the restaurant. Everybody was probably worried by now, but she just didn't care. She felt torn into two. One part of her was saying to go find Troy and to not waste another second of her precious time, but the other part of her just wanted to be alone, to crawl into a hole and stay there.

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella whipped around to see Troy and Sharpay running towards her. She brushed tears off of her face and tried to look somewhat decent, but she knew she must have been a mess.

Troy ran towards her, skidding through the mud around the lake, and threw his arms around her.

"That was the longest half hour of my life," he said as he hugged her tightly, "Your mom called the police and everything."

Gabriella didn't answer, and instead pulled away from him and stepped closer to the lake.

"Will you miss me Troy?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

"What?"

"Will you miss me," she said, louder this time, "Not right after it though, like fifteen years later. Will you even remember me?"

"Gabriella, What are you talking about?" he asked, obviously confused.

"After I die, Troy, Will you remember me?" She asked, not daring to look him in the eyes and taking another step closer to the lake, her shoes now covered in an inch of water.

"Of course, Gabriella, what's going on? Don't go in the lake," he said, not really sure what she wanted him to say, "Come on, I should bring you home, your mom is worried."

"No Troy," she said boldly, "This is important. I don't think any of you will remember me after a while. You'll all go on with your lives, and me? I won't be around. I'll always just be to you the girl who died of cancer!"She said, a sob escaping her lips. She furiously wiped at her eyes and looked at the ground. It hurt to look into Troy's eyes.

"Gabriella, what are you talking about? We'll always remember you." Troy said awkwardly, as he looked around for Sharpay for help. She was standing a few feet away, obviously upset by Gabriella's outburst.

Gabriella heavily shook her head. "This isn't fair," she said through her tears and sobs, "It's just not fair." She wanted out of this misery...and now.

Go review!


	7. Shatter my Heart

A/N: Hi everybody. Sorry it took so long for this chapter. Thanks to everybody who reviewed! I broke a 100 reviews last time, which was very exciting, so thank you! Anyway, I had this idea for a new story, and I was going to wait until I finished this one to put it up here to reduce confusion, but I think i might put it up now anyway. So, everybody be on the lookout for that and go read it! It's going to be called 'A Box in the Attic.'

Ok anyway, here's the next chapter...

"You never told me you had a sister."

"I have a sister," Gabriella said, her voice cold and emotionless, her eyes looking anywhere but at Troy.

Troy closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. A hospital, of all places, was where Gabriella was ignoring him. A hospital waiting room. He wouldn't have even been there if he hadn't followed her to the stupid lake. The best part was that she had made up with Sharpay, forgotten everything she'd said, and now they were acting like they had always been best friends. Troy didn't have a problem with that, he was just annoyed that Gabriella seemed mad at him for some reason. Actually, mad was an understatement, she seemed to hate him at the moment.

It had been that way since they were at the park. Troy had been trying to calm her down, which wasn't easy. What exactly was he supposed to say to a sobbing, teenage girl who was standing knee deep in a filthy lake and had found out less than two weeks ago that she had less than a year to live?

But he wasn't going to let her stand there, so he tried to calm her down, with no success. While he was attempting to fix things, his cell phone had rang. It was Ms. Montez, still freaking out about where Gabriella was. By the time Troy had explained where they were, Sharpay had somehow gotten Gabriella out of the lake _and _made her smile. Troy had been very relieved, seeing her laugh about something Sharpay said, the problem magically fixed, until he went back over to be completely ignored by Gabriella. He hadn't even done anything.

But of course the drama didn't end there. When Ms. Montez pulled up a few minutes later, Gabriella, Sharpay, and Troy were ushered into the backseat of her car and rushed to the hospital, because Gabriella's older sister was in labor and Ms. Montez had to be there.

So there Troy was, sitting in a hospital waiting room, with one girl that wouldn't say more than a few words to him and another that had gone to look for a vending machine and hadn't come back in half an hour. Somehow, it didn't make sense that before last week the biggest amount of drama in his life had been what his friends would think of his singing.

"Does she know if she's having a boy or a girl?" Troy asked kindly, trying to get Gabriella to say more than a few words to him.

"No."

Troy put his head and his hands and looked at the ground. The bottom of Gabriella's jeans were still wet from the lake and tinged with mud, as were her sneakers. Although the room was filled with activity and noise, an unbearable silence sat thickly between Gabriella and Troy, almost as if it was something they could touch. Nurses walked by, doing their daily routines, A group of kids sat with a man on the other side of the room, Gabriella tapped her sneaker on the ground, making a squeak every time she did it. It wasn't enough, though, to fill the huge gap between Troy and Gabriella.

Troy peered down the hallway which Sharpay had disappeared half an hour ago, hoping she would return soon. She would probably give them every minuscule detail about how the set was going and how all the other students were doing in the musical, but at least it wouldn't be insanely quiet.

"Okay," Troy said, breaking the silence, "Could you at least tell me why you're mad?"

Gabriella turned to look at him, her eyes locking with his for a brief second before she turned away again. "I'm not mad," she said quietly.

"If you're not mad, why haven't you said more than two words to me since the park?" Troy asked, his voice tinged with confusion.

"I..." Gabriella started, but paused. "You're going to hate me Troy."

"That's impossible."

"No, Troy," Gabriella said quietly, "It's about to happen, but this is something I need to do."

"What are you talking about?" Troy asked. If he was confused before, he was twice that now.

"I can't be around you anymore," Gabriella said, so quietly Troy hardly heard her.

"What? Why?"

"I...I just can't," she said as she rose from her chair and started down the hallway that Sharpay still hadn't come back from.

Troy wasn't going to let her go without an explanation though. He grabbed her wrist, and as she turned to face him, he saw something in her eyes that hadn't ben there before. Fear. Troy was always used to her being so happy and cheery, it was so strange to see her upset like this all the time.

"Troy, just let it go," Gabriella pleaded, not daring to look him in the eye.

"No, Gabriella, please," Troy said, "Just tell me what's wrong, we can fix it."

Gabriella shook her head sadly. "That's what I'm doing now, fixing it."

Troy stared at her without anything to say. To tell the truth, he didn't _know_ what to say. His best friend, kind-of girlfriend, was telling him she never wanted to see him again, and he had no idea why. He hadn't done anything to make her angry , but she was upset anyway. That was how Gabriella dealt with things, she pushed them away, but that wasn't what he wanted, and he didn't think she truly wanted that either.

"Gabriella," Troy started, "Tell me what's wrong."

Gabriella sighed, her chin starting to quiver. "Fine Troy, I'll tell you the truth. It _hurts_. It hurts to be around you knowing that in a few months I can't. It hurts knowing that someday you'll all move on and I'll just be a small memory from high school. It hurts, and every second that I'm around you I keep thinking about how I have less than a year to live."

"Gabriella..." he started, noticing that the man and the few kids were all staring at them now. As Troy looked over, they looked the other way, and the kids went back to coloring in a book they had. The colors were bright, pinks and greens, but meshed together to make a brown.

Gabriella shook her head and wiped a few tears that started to fall from her eyes. "You can say that none of it's true, Troy. But it is. I want to enjoy the rest of my time, and I can't if all I can think about is how my life is going to end." She said, turning around quickly and disappearing down the hallway.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Louder, Miss Montez, Louder!" Ms. Darbus yelled to Gabriella who was currently standing on the school stage.

"It's the microphone, Ms. Darbus, It's not working," Gabriella said as she fiddled around with the head of the microphone, trying to get it to work.

Ms. Darbus sighed loudly. "Mr. Bolton, get up there and fix it for her!" She said as she dropped a folder full of papers on the floor. " I don't have time for this."

Troy did as he was told and left his seat in the audience to fix the microphone. Rehearsals were currently every day during free period and Monday, Tuesday and Friday after school. So far things weren't going so well. Troy and Gabriella were of course the leads, but they weren't doing so good. Because of Gabriella's new opinion on Troy, they're chemistry on stage wasn't the best. In fact, it was nonexistent.

Gabriella refused to look at Troy at all, and whenever she was supposed to be singing or talking to him, she turned the other way. She said her lines to him with little to no emotion, and it was pretty obvious they're was some conflict between the two. Troy was pulling his weight, but it was hard when Gabriella was pretending he wasn't there.

"Some time this decade, Mr. Bolton, I don't have all day!" Ms. Darbus snapped as Troy tapped on the head of the microphone.

"I almost got it," Troy said as he smiled towards Gabriella, who just looked the other way. He knew she was going to do that, but he wanted to try anyway, she wouldn't stay like this forever, would she?

Gabriella had recruited Taylor and Sharpay, sometimes even Chad, instead of Troy to drag along with her on what ever she wanted to do. Troy heard things from each of them about what they'd done all week after school. On Monday and Tuesday after Rehearsal Sharpay and Gabriella went to the hospital to visit her sister and the new baby. Troy hadn't stuck around after Gabriella left him, he walked home, figuring he could find out about the baby from Sharpay. It was a girl, Cassandra, and Gabriella's sister was in town until she was out of the hospital. Troy had never heard about Gabriella's sister because she lived hours away, but once she heard about Gabriella, she came in to visit, but now she'd have to get home because of the baby.

On Wednesday, Taylor and Gabriella had gone to some incredibly expensive spa, and Thursday Gabriella had gone with Chad and Taylor to some rare store a few hours away that she'd always wanted to go to. All this while Troy sat alone, or sometimes with Chad, staring at the basketball hoop in his driveway. He had tried to play to get his mind off things, but he wasn't focused. All he could think about was why Gabriella could spend time with all her other friends and be perfectly happy but not Troy. He wanted to be around her constantly, knowing what little time she had left, but she didn't let that and he wanted what was best for her, so he let it go. He had been told by everybody, even her mother, that she'd come around, he just had to give it a little time, but he wished he didn't. It was hard.

"I got it!" Troy yelled to Ms. Darbus as the microphone again started working, and he hopped off the stage and took his seat next to Sharpay.

"Finally!" Ms. Darbus said, "Forget this scene Miss Montez, I want to work on the last scene. That needs a lot of work. Troy, back on stage." she snapped.

"Good luck," Sharpay whispered to him, knowing they were going to have a hard time now.

Troy hopped back on stage, waiting for Gabriella to start the scene. She just stood there though, not looking at him.

Ms. Darbus sighed loudly from her spot in front of the stage. "I can't deal with this," she said.

"Deal with what?' Troy asked, "We haven't even started yet."

"That's my point. You haven't even started and you're already doing it wrong. Face him, Miss Montez! Face him! You are a couple, couples _like_ each other."

"Sorry Ms. Darbus," Gabriella said quietly.

"No, no. It's been a week already and this hasn't been fixed. It's too late for apologies." she said, "Troy Bolton, I'm kicking you out of the show."

"What?" Troy asked, bewildered at what she had just said. Gabriella was the one not doing what she was supposed, Troy was doing the best he could.

"Miss Evans, inform your brother he'll be taking Troy's part." Darbus said, "Rehearsal is over for today."

"This isn't fair!" Troy yelled, "I didn't do anything!"

"You're distracting Miss Montez," Darbus said as she got her stuff together.

Troy almost yelled back that she should kick Gabriella out then, but he didn't want that either. As mad as he was about leaving the play, he'd rather let Gabriella stay then know it was his fault that she had been kicked out.

"Ms. Darbus, I really think you should reconsider this," Kelsie said as she arose from her place behind the piano.

"No."

"Ms. Darbus, they had the best audition, they got the part! You can't kick him out." She argued, as she glanced towards Troy who was still just standing on the stage shocked.

"I can kick them both out if you would prefer, Kelsie,"

"No, forget it," Troy said, "Let Gabriella stay." He said as he walked up the aisle to the door, his eyes locking with Gabriella's for a brief second before he slammed the door behind him.


	8. Those Three Small Words

A/N: Hi again everybody. Thank you to everybody who has reviewed. I know I've said this a lot, but I _really_ appreciate all of the feedback. I should have the next chapter up a little sooner this time, because I'm off from school all week, which gives me more free time. Without all the work, I'll definitely be able to type everything up faster. I have most of the story written on paper, but I can never find time to sit down for a while and actually type it all up.

Chapter Eight

Gabriella stood, stunned, in her place on the stage. Ms. Darbus had just kicked Troy out of the musical. Gabriella might have been avoiding him, but she couldn't deny that he hadn't deserved that. He had been doing great, it was Gabriella that hadn't been trying her best, and she knew that. She mentally kicked herself. She had let her feelings get in the way, and now she messed up something Troy _loved._

"You coming, Gabriella?" Sharpay asked as she helped Kelsie put away the sheet music. Sharpay, Taylor, and Gabriella were supposed to go get ice cream after rehearsal, but now Gabriella felt really guilty. How could she have ruined this for Troy? If she would have just performed with her heart instead of letting her mind getting in the way, Troy wouldn't have been kicked out.

And he had just let it slide, without hesitation. _"Let Gabriella stay,"_ he had said. How did he _always_ manage to put her before himself? He was so sweet, and that's what made her feel so guilty. He hadn't even thought of the fact that Gabriella had just lost him his part, he had just let it go, thinking for Gabriella's sake. And then there had been that look. That look that he gave her before he left the auditorium. It was angry, but still somehow showed that he didn't hate her for what she had done.

"Gabriella?" Taylor asked as she entered the auditorium, "Is there a reason you're still on the stage? Everybody left."

"No," Gabriella said blushing, pushing Troy from her mind for the moment. She probably looked stupid standing up on the stage just staring into space. "I'm coming, let's go."

As the three headed over to the ice cream parlor, Gabriella couldn't shake Troy from her thoughts. She was so stupid, just standing there watching. She should have said something to Ms. Darbus. Maybe if she had sacrificed her own part, Troy would've been able to stay. She should have never acted like she did in the first place. Acting was acting, it had nothing to do with how she felt about Troy in reality. But she wasn't so sure about how she felt about him at the moment anyway. Everything was just so messed up.

"Gabriella, are you sure you're alright?" Taylor asked, "You're really quiet."

"Yeah," Gabriella said, "I just feel kind of guilty."

"About...?"

"Troy got kicked out of the musical," Sharpay said knowingly as she held open the door to the ice cream place. Sharpay had known Gabriella would feel guilty the moment Darbus kicked Troy out. Gabriella had done a nice job avoiding her feelings for Troy for the past week, but now they were all about to catch up to her.

"How come?" Taylor asked, her voice hinting at her shock.

"Because Gabriella won't admit that she loves Troy," Sharpay said casually, as if what she said hadn't just made Gabriella's stomach flip over. Sharpay knew she was probably about to start an argument, but she was tired of the charade Troy and Gabriella were playing. She had to get them through what ever they were going through. She wouldn't be Sharpay if she didn't intervene, so why not help them along a little?

"What?" Gabriella asked, reacting right away to the feeling in her stomach.

Sharpay and Taylor glanced at each other and laughed a little.

"What are you guys talking about?" Gabriella asked. Why were they laughing?

Sharpay rolled her eyes and instead of answering Gabriella, ordered three vanilla cones.

"Oh come on, Gabriella," Sharpay said as she paid the man, "We're not blind." Actually, even a blind person would probably be able to tell there was some kind of spark between Troy and Gabriella. Sharpay sighed at the oblivious state of Gabriella. Why were her and Troy the only ones that couldn't see it?

Gabriella just stood there. She wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. Love? Sure she loved Troy, but she loved him as a friend, the same way she loved the rest of her friends.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gabriella said as she sat at a small table by a window, taking a lick of her cone. "I only love Troy like I love you guys. We're just friends, and we technically aren't even that right now."

Sharpay and Taylor again laughed. "Please, you two were _not_ just friends. It's so obvious." Sharpay said. Her and Taylor had agreed on the fact that even though they hadn't been told of anything between Troy and Gabriella, something _was_ going on.

Gabriella blushed a little, knowing that they had detected her lie. But they had only dated for like three hours before everything went disastrous. And sure they had kissed, but only once. Gabriella's cheeks tinged even redder at the thought of that kiss. Sharpay and Taylor didn't even know about that. She couldn't even describe it to them if she wanted to, it had made her feel so happy. There wasn't even words to describe how she had felt when she kissed Troy.

"Well fine," Gabriella said, "Maybe we weren't just friends, but whatever we had is over now, and I don't love him."

Sharpay rolled her eyes. She was going to have to do this the hard way. "Gabriella, if you don't love him, how come you can't be around him with out it hurting?"

"I..." Gabriella quickly closed her mouth, she didn't have an answer for that.

"And how come you can be around the rest of us without a problem?" Taylor added, giving Sharpay a hand. She couldn't let Sharpay tackle this on her own.

Gabriella again didn't have an answer.

"And before this week, why was Troy the only person you trusted with anything?" Sharpay said with a grin, knowing they almost had her. Gabriella's increasing speechlessness was a good sign.

Gabriella sighed. They were good questions.

"Face it Gabriella, you love Troy," Sharpay said, "You have the type of love with him everybody dreams of having. The kind of love that makes you go weak in the knees, makes you feel like you constantly can't breathe, makes your stomach in knots all the time. You love him, and you're scared of that. You don't want to admit it because you know it can't last."

Gabriella looked up at Sharpay in surprise. She was blunt, but she had hit it exactly. Now that she said that, Gabriella realized it was the truth. She _did_ love Troy, but she didn't want to. It would be over in less than a year...

Seeing her face, Sharpay realized she had finally gotten to her. "Listen Gabriella," she said softly, "Love isn't guaranteed to last forever even if you have all the time in the world. Didn't you say you wanted to enjoy these next few months? Go enjoy them. What you're doing is torturing yourself _and_ Troy. You're both miserable with out each other, so go. Don't be scared."

"Thanks..." Gabriella sputtered out, handing her cone to Taylor, "I have to go," she said quickly, and left the ice cream parlor, running back towards the school. She had to find Troy, but first she had to talk to Ms. Darbus.

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Gabriella knocked angrily on the large wooden door in front of her for what seemed like the hundredth time. She had given up on the doorbell after the thirteenth time ringing it. She needed to see Troy, this couldn't wait, but of course she would choose a time when he wasn't home.

She quickly jumped off the steps and peered through a window in the garage door. Of course there were no cars in their, they must have gone out somewhere. But there was a light on in a room upstairs. Of course it could have been left on by accident, somebody just forgot to shut it, but Gabriella _had_ to see Troy.

He had told her where they kept a spare key, and as desperate as it might have been, Gabriella was somehow getting into that house. She got the key from its location and opened the door. If nobody was home, she would just leave, but she had to make sure that Troy wasn't around. This was important.

As she entered Troy's house, she felt stupid. What if one of his parent's were home and they suddenly saw Gabriella standing in the middle of the house. She didn't stop though, this couldn't wait.

She made her way up the stairs, and as she walked down the hallway towards Troy's room, she heard music. Somebody was home! Gabriella quickened her pace, and noticed that the door to Troy's room was half open.

She quickly went in, before she could change her mind. She probably should have knocked first though, because she nearly gave Troy a heart attack, who jumped half way across the room at her appearance in the doorway.

"Gabriella?" he asked, breathing heavily, "How did you get in? You scared me, I'm the only one home." She had scared him half to death. He was getting ready for when his parents got home. They were supposed to go out for dinner, so he hadn't really expected anybody to be standing in his doorway.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. She had obviously chosen a bad time. Troy was standing in front of her in just a pair of jeans, with wet hair, and a towel in his hand. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower. Gabriella peeled her eyes from his shirtless body and handed him the key she still had in her hand. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just had something to tell you, maybe I should come back though."

"No!" he said, pulling a shirt over his head and clicking off the radio. Gabriella hadn't spoken to him in a week, he wasn't about to kick her out. He was still a little annoyed about the musical, but his friendship with Gabriella was much more important, and if he had a chance at regaining it, he'd put the show aside. "What's wrong?"

"I..."Gabriella started, then froze. What if Troy didn't love her back? Maybe it was stupid going there after all.

"You...?"

"I got you back into the musical," Gabriella said, which was true. She had talked to Darbus, explained everything, and she had reluctantly let Troy back in the show. But she said if there was one more problem between the two of them, he was out again. Gabriella had assured her there wouldn't be, but now she was tongue tied and stalling. _Just tell him_, she told herself. Of course saying it in her head was much simpler than it was in reality.

Troy raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

After a nod from Gabriella, he continued. "Thanks, but that's the urgent news?" That couldn't have been the only reason she had practically broken into the house for. She could have just called him, or let him know in school. This must have been something big, or something bad.

"No..." Gabriella started. She had to say it now. She took a deep breath, then froze again.

"Gabriella, is everything okay?" Troy asked. She was nervous...he could tell. Something had to be wrong.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm just...I..." She stopped, looking up into his eyes, and acted on impulse. She kissed him. She couldn't resist, and she could feel that he was surprised at first, probably confused about her flighty behavior. But he softly kissed her back, running his fingers through her long curls as her hands went around his neck.

"I'm so sorry," she said as they broke apart, "I was a total drama queen this week, but Sharpay and Taylor made me come to my senses."

"It's okay, you're under a lot of stress." Troy said as he still tried to figure out if the kiss had been real or if he was imagining things. She hadn't talked to him in over a week, but now this?

Gabriella shook her head. "It's not, I pushed you away because I was scared, but I shouldn't have pushed you away at all," she said, pausing slightly, "And I was afraid because I love you."

There, she had said it. She had finally gotten the three small words out, but now was afraid to look at Troy. Why had she said it? She had probably been too forward, too anxious, and he'd be scared off. She should have just kept quiet and let everything be as it was. They were both happy, why had she spoiled it?

"I love you too."

Gabriella's eyes shot up from the ground to meet Troy's, who had a smile plastered to his face. "So you forgive me?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, still smiling, "But another kiss wouldn't hurt your cause..."

"Gladly," she said with a small laugh before bringing her lips to Troy's once more.

A/N: Ok, everybody go Review


	9. A Snoop, A Prank, and a Surprise

A/n: Hi everybody. I know you probably all hate me right now because it's been about a month since I've last updated, and I'm so sorry about it. My teachers have decided to dump tons of work on us before finals start because they're all panicked that they aren't going to have enough time to teach us everything we need to know. Anyway, until school ends for me (four more weeks!) I might not be able to update very often, but don't worry, I'm not going to drop the story. Thanks to everybody who reviews, keep them coming!

Chapter Nine

"This has got to be the most ridiculous idea ever."

"Taylor, shush," Sharpay said, "You'll give us away."

Taylor sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "I'm leaving, this is stupid," she said, as she wondered why she had followed Sharpay in the first place. They had finished their ice cream, talked for a little while, and then Sharpay had the brilliant idea to find out if Gabriella had come to talk to Troy and worked things out. Of course, they couldn't just _call_ Gabriella to find out where she had gone, they had to actually _find_ her. According to Sharpay, if they called they could interrupt everything and ruin the moment, and then they might destroy things between her and Troy for good. _"Imagine,_" Sharpay had said when Taylor suggested just calling her cell phone, _"Gabriella is all ready to say 'I love you' and then her cell phone rings. She would lose her nerve, and her and Troy would continue to ignore each other."_

Taylor thought she was insane, but she had followed her anyway on a chase to find them. Right now, Sharpay and herself were outside Troy's house, trying to peer through the bushes to his window. Sharpay was very intent on doing this, but to Taylor, it seemed like the stupidest idea ever. They'd be interrupting everything anyway, whether they were on the phone or scaring them from the window. Plus, what if a neighbor saw them? They'd probably think they were intruders and call the cops.

"No Taylor, _come on_. Don't you want to know if things worked out between them?" Sharpay whispered.

"Yes," Taylor said with another eye roll, "But not like this. We can just call her! Not to mention the fact that we have no idea what we're gonna see."

"Shhhh," Sharpay hissed, annoyed at Taylor's loud tone, "Come on, this is Gabriella and Troy we're talking about, they wouldn't do anything stupid. Oh! I think I see Gabriella's hair! Help me get closer to the window."

Taylor reluctantly pushed the bushes aside and helped Sharpay, and herself, scoot closer to the window. As much as she was against spying on Gabriella and Troy, she was curious. Now that they were closer, they could see a little better, but their view was still not the best. There was only a small amount of space for them to look through between the window sill and the partially closed blinds.

"I see them," Sharpay said quietly, "Look, Gabriella's talking to him. I wonder what she's saying, I wish we could hear them."

Taylor nodded, but kept quiet. She could see Gabriella was nervous, even without hearing anything, and she was now actually really interested to see what happened.

"What the...Taylor? Sharpay?"

Taylor and Sharpay jumped at the mention of their names and turned around quickly to see Chad standing on the sidewalk outside Troy's house, looking at them like they had four heads.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a trace of confusion in his voice. Why in the world were Sharpay and Taylor standing in the bushes outside Troy's window? "Are you spying on Troy?"

Taylor was about to deny the fact, even though it would be pretty tough to come up with another reason as to why they were in the bushes, but Sharpay answered for her. "Yes, and Gabriella."

Chad looked over at Taylor and raised a curious eyebrow. This didn't really seem like something she would do, but she shrugged and nodded. If they were spying, something good must have been going on.

"Are you planning on going inside to see Troy?" Sharpay asked, and without waiting for an answer she added, "Because you can't."

Chad raised another eyebrow, to which Sharpay answered, "Gabriella is inside and you will interrupt. She is about to tell him she loves him."

Chad smiled. "Really?" he asked. After a nod from Sharpay and Taylor, he laughed and joined them at the window. He was just thankful things might work out with Gabriella and Troy, because, frankly, Troy hadn't been himself lately. He was always quiet and upset, and Chad felt bad for his friend. It was bad enough they were all losing Gabriella, and Troy didn't need the extra weight on his shoulders.

"Has she told him yet?" Chad asked Taylor, but Taylor didn't get a chance to answer before Sharpay did.

"I don't think so," Sharpay whispered uncertainly, "She looks nervous though, I hope she doesn't back down."

"She can't," Chad said, "If she does, we're really going to have to intervene."

"She won't, she really likes him," Taylor said, glancing at Chad a little, who gave her a smile. She returned the gesture, but was then poked in the side by Sharpay.

"Look!" She squealed, "They're kissing!"

Taylor turned back towards the window, and saw Sharpay was right. She suddenly felt bad for spying. This was Gabriella and Troy's moment, and they probably wouldn't appreciate it if they found their nosy friends watching them.

"We should..." she started, but was cut off by Chad.

"Did he kiss her, or did she kiss him?"

"She kissed him." Sharpay said.

"Guys, this isn't fair to..."

"Oh," Chad said, "Do you think she told him?"

"Probably," Sharpay answered.

"Guys, I don't think this is..."

"Uh oh, they stopped kissing, " Sharpay said, "They're talking now. Maybe she hasn't said anything yet."

"Oh man, I can't see good from here," Chad said, as he shuffled trying to get closer to the window.

"Seriously, this is a bad..."

"Oh! They're kissing again!" Sharpay said, "And Gabriella laughed right before that, I think things are good between them again."

"Oh good, move over, let me see," Chad said nosily.

"Chad! Sharpay," Taylor snapped, much louder this time, which finally got their attention. The two faces were suddenly staring at her, waiting for her to say something.

"I don't think this is fair to them, we should leave," she said, " How would you like it if that was you in there and everybody was watching?"

Sharpay and Chad glanced at each other uncertainly, and then shrugged.

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"Did you hear something?" Gabriella asked suddenly, pulling away from Troy.

"No," he said, a huge smile still on his face. Gabriella had just told him he loved him, "Why?"

"I think I heard something outside," she said, "It's probably nothing though," she added with a smile to Troy, who planted a kiss on her forehead and headed to the window. He started to open the blinds, but stopped as he heard voices. Gabriella was right, something was outside, and it sounded a lot like their friends.

Troy rolled his eyes and glanced at Gabriella who had joined him at the window. "Is that...?"

"It's Taylor, Sharpay and Chad," Gabriella said quietly, "I knew I heard Sharpay's voice. They're spying on us!"

Troy leaned to open the blinds again, ready to expose his nosy friends, but Gabriella grabbed his hand.

"No," she said, a mischievous grin appearing on her face, "Let's make this fun."

"What do you have in mind?"

"How many windows are in this room?" Gabriella asked, a plan formulating in her mind.

"Two," Troy said, "The one they're spying at and the one by my bed. Why?"

"Do you think," Gabriella asked, "If we open that other window they'll be able to hear us?"

"Probably," Troy said, a little confused, "If we talk loud. Why?"

Gabriella smiled widely. "Open the window, this is going to be fun."

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"Seriously, "Taylor said to Sharpay and Chad, "We should go and leave them alone."

Sharpay shrugged and looked at the window. "Fine, I guess you're right, " she said, as she started to make her way out of the bushes, but then stopped. "Oh, but wait. Did you hear something?"

Taylor shook her head and rolled her eyes. She just wanted to get Sharpay and Chad out of there. "No, let's go."

"No, wait Taylor," Sharpay said, pressing her ear against the window, "I can hear them now!"

"Hey! So can I, " Chad said, "Taylor we'll leave in a few minutes, let's just hear what they're saying."

Taylor rolled her eyes and crossed her arms impatiently. She could hear Troy and Gabriella now too, and as much as she wanted to leave and let them be, she didn't want to leave Chad and Sharpay there alone. Since Chad had gotten there, he had hardly said two words to Taylor because he had been too wrapped up in Sharpay and spying on Gabriella and Troy. Taylor wasn't _jealous_, exactly, more like...okay, she was jealous.

"I'm so glad I decided to come over here," Taylor heard Gabriella say through the window, "You know, it was Sharpay that convinced me."

"Really?' Troy asked.

"Yeah," Gabriella said, "But I think it's time we tell her the truth about the auditions."

"Do you think she'll get mad?" Troy asked.

Sharpay raised her eyebrows and glanced at Chad and Taylor. "What are they talking about?" she asked them, to which she received no reply.

"Probably," Gabriella said, "Wouldn't you be mad if you really deserved a part but didn't get it. I think we should tell her the only reason we got the parts in the musical is because your dad paid Darbus. She really liked Sharpay and Ryan better than us."

"What?' Sharpay screeched, causing Gabriella and Troy to laugh under their breaths as the tried to keep the joke up.

"Yeah," Troy said, "Maybe we can ask Chad and Taylor what they think about the situation. Maybe one of them can break it to Sharpay and it won't be as bad. Speaking of those two," he said, winking at Gabriella, "what's going on with them?"

Now it was Chad and Taylor's turn to glance at each other. Why were they suddenly spilling secrets to each other? Taylor looked over at Sharpay, who was muttering to herself something about Darbus and how Gabriella was going to pay.

"I don't know," Gabriella said, "Since that one date they had, nothing has happened. But Taylor is totally obsessed with him."

Taylor blushed deeply from her spot by the window and looked at the ground. _Great_, she thought, _Now the entire world knows._

"Chad really likes her too," Troy said from the window, which caused Chad to blush as well. A million thoughts rushed through each of their heads, neither of them willing to look at the other.

Taylor breathed a sigh of relief when Troy started to talk again, glad for the distraction. "I think the real problem with all of them is," he said, "They are all big snoops!"

Taylor jumped as Troy and Gabriella were suddenly facing her on the other side of the window. They had pulled the blinds up and opened the window.

"Hi guys, " Chad said weakly, forcing a smile, "Strange seeing you here, isn't it?"

Troy rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Sharpay. "How dare you! I'm turning you in to the principal. I can not _believe_ your dad paid Darbus! This is a total disgrace to the entire drama club, the entire school! I can't even..." She stopped her rambling as she noticed Gabriella and Troy were laughing.

"Sharpay, calm down," Gabriella said, "We were joking. We knew you guys were out here and we decided to have some fun teasing you all. Troy's dad didn't pay anybody."

Chad rolled his eyes and glared at Troy. "Couldn't you have spared us the humiliation and just told us you knew we were here?"

Troy smiled and shook his head, "Nope," he said, " we may have been lying about the auditions, but we weren't lying about you and Taylor."

Chad glared at Troy and then turned to give a small smile to Taylor. He could tell she was embarrassed too, but if Gabriella hadn't been lying, he knew she liked him too, and that made him very happy.

"Anyway," Troy said to three of them, who were still standing in the bushes, "Why don't you guys come in? Through the door though, not the window."

Taylor, Sharpay and Chad left the bushes and walked around the house towards the front door.

"I can't believe they did that," Sharpay said, "They really had me."

"Well," Taylor said, still embarrassed and grasping for something to say, "We shouldn't have been there in the first place, I guess we deserved it."

"Yeah," Chad muttered, "I guess so. Hey, who's that?" He asked, pointing a few feet ahead of them. On the Bolton stairs stood a man, probably in his late thirties, with dark hair. He looked nervous, standing there with his hands shoved into his pocket and breathing a little heavily.

"I don't know," Taylor said uncertainly, then realized the door was opening behind him, probably Troy and Gabriella coming to let them in.

Gabriella opened the door, expecting to see Chad, Taylor and Sharpay, but was surprised to see another man standing in front of them. She didn't recognize him at first, but then widened her eyes as she realized she knew him. He was a man she hadn't seen in nine years, and certainly wasn't ready to see now. She slammed the door, and turned around quickly to meet Troy's questioning eyes in front of her.

"What's the matter, Gabriella?" He asked, concern filling his face.

"Why?" she said, more to herself than to Troy, "And how did he find me here?"

"Gabriella?"

"Troy," she said, shaking her head in disbelief, "That's my father."


	10. Come Back to Me, part one

A/N: I am so so so sorry that this took so long to get up! I've had terrible writer's block, and this chapter probably won't even make up for it, but it's something. This and the next chapter, which I'll hopefully get up soon, were originally one chapter, but I'm having writer's block on the end of next chapter so I decided to split it up. There's still a good amount left to this story, so be patient, I'll try to get it up sooner from now on.

Chapter Ten

"Nine years, Troy, Nine years," Gabriella said, her voice trembling out of anger and apprehension. "He left nine years ago, I haven't seen him since."

Troy looked at Gabriella with worry clear on his face. She had never told him anything about her father, he just knew he wasn't around. He had assumed some kind of divorce, but he hadn't wanted to ask in case it brought up bitter memories. But now that her father was standing outside, Troy had to face reality and make a decision. Then he was struck by another thought...could he be dangerous?

"Gabriella, he wasn't...abusive, or anything, was he?"

"No, nothing like that," she said, shaking her head heavily.

Troy sighed, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to let the man in without Gabriella's permission, but he also didn't want to leave him out on the doorstep. Not to mention, Chad, Taylor and Sharpay were still outside, probably wondering what was going on.

There was a soft knock on the door and Troy looked towards Gabriella for some advice on what to do. Her eyes met his, and she nodded in a silent agreement as she stepped aside. Troy hesitantly opened the door, silently praying that things would work out okay.

Gabriella's father still stood behind the door, and gave Troy a small smile as he stepped aside.

"Oh, Gabi," her father said to her as he stepped inside, "You've grown up so much, you're beautiful."

"Don't call me Gabi," Gabriella said harshly, staring her father straight in the eye. She hadn't seen him in nine years and she wasn't about to forgive him for a few compliments.

"How did you find me here?" she asked coldly, "This isn't even my house."

Her father looked down, but kept the soft smile on his face. "I know, I was at your house and your mother told me I could find you here. I'm assuming your Troy?"

Troy looked up at the man, whose hand was extended towards him. He hesitantly shook it, still not sure what to think of him. He seemed nice enough, but Gabriella seemed to hate him.

"Gabriella," her father said softly, rubbing at his eyes, "I understand that this is a shock and that you're angry. I came here for a reason, and it's important, but I can see you aren't willing to talk to me right now."

Gabriella looked down at the ground and remained silent. For a minute she just wanted to run up and hug him, tell him how much she missed him, but the logical side of her shot the idea down immediately. She had dreamed of her father returning for months, even for a few years, after her father had left but she had come to face the fact that he wasn't coming back. Now that she was older, she was too angry to let him back into her life right away.

"I'll wait at your house with your mother for now," he said, "I'll give you some time to think, we can talk later."

Gabriella's father turned around and headed back down the stairs, passing Sharpay, Taylor and Chad who had expressions of shock and confusion on their faces.

"We'll go," Taylor said, heading down the stairs and pulling Chad and Sharpay with her. "You two talk. I'll call you later, Gabriella."

Troy closed the door behind them and turned to face Gabriella, who was staring at nothing in particular. If she wanted to talk, he'd talk, but if she didn't he wasn't going to push.

"I'm sorry, Troy," Gabriella said quietly, blinking back a few tears, "I just can't believe he showed up here."

Troy sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He hated seeing Gabriella upset, and it always seemed like there was nothing he could do to fix it.

"Don't apologize," he said, taking a few steps closer to her and pulling her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head as she squeezed him tightly, glad he was always there to comfort her.

"I guess I should tell you about him," Gabriella said as she broke apart from Troy and plopped onto his living room couch.

"Only if you want to," Troy told her, sitting next to her on the couch. "If you want to talk, I'll listen, but otherwise we can just sit here if that's what you want."

Gabriella smiled at how caring he was. She wanted to tell him about her father, she just didn't know if she'd be able to. She had never talked to anybody about her father, not really even her mother. After he left, they had acted as if he'd never existed at all, and she had never shared her feelings with anybody. She was tired of keeping her feelings bottled up, though, and she would at least attempt to tell Troy about her father.

"He had been a great father," Gabriella began as she thought back to a night when she was about six.

"_Gabi, honey, there's only one rule to the sundae-making process_."

"_What is it Daddy?" Gabriella asked as she looked over the table. It was covered with bowls of bright colored candy, sprinkles, chocolate, hot fudge, and of course, multiple flavors of ice cream._

"_Put on as much stuff as possible" Her father told her with a big smile, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "Let's start with the ice cream. How many scoops do you want Gabi?"_

"_Ummm...Two?"_

"_Only two?"_

"_Well, Mommy only lets me have two at a time," Gabriella said._

"_Oh, I see," her father told her with a warm smile, "But I won't tell if you don't."_

"_Okay!" Gabriella said as she watched her father fill her bowl with ice cream._

"_Okay, Gabi, next the chocolate syrup," he said, handing her the bottle, "Put as much as you want."_

_Her father gave a small laugh as he watched his small daughter drown her ice cream in syrup. She went on to add a variety of toppings, filling the bowl to the rim. _

"_Now what?" Gabriella asked, peering down into her bowl._

"_Now we add your favorite," her father told her, "Cherries!" he plopped three cherries onto her sundae and opened a nearby drawer to get spoons._

"_Next is my favorite part," he said, "We eat!"_

_Gabriella's father laughed as Gabriella spooned ice cream into her mouth, getting more on her face than into her mouth. He grabbed a few napkins and handed them to her, scooping her into a hug as he did so and planting a kiss on her cheek._

"_I love you sweetie."_

"_I love you too, Daddy."_

Gabriella had come to love the nights when it was just her and her father, he had always planned something fun. Her mom was rarely out without her father, but when she was Gabriella always knew her father had something in store for them.

"Troy, I don't know what happened. He was so _perfect_. He was the last person you'd think would leave. I remember he used to read to me every night," Gabriella paused, a small smile on her lips, "But then I don't know what happened. I mean, my parents seemed happy, I never suspected anything was wrong...but I guess something was. He just left...no explanation, no goodbye. I woke up one morning and he was gone. My mom said she didn't know anything."

"I'm sorry," Troy said, not really sure what to say in response to that.

Gabriella gave Troy a small smile. "Don't worry about it though. I mean I wished for years that he'd come back, give me a huge hug and tell me it was all a mistake. But, I got over it now. I realized he wasn't coming back. I guess he wasn't the person I always thought he was," Gabriella said, which was mostly true. She had long ago accepted the fact that he wasn't coming back for her, no matter how hard she wished. "I just don't know why he's back now."

Troy smiled at Gabriella. "Maybe he just wants to explain or something."

Gabriella shrugged. "Probably. Seems pretty selfish to me, though. He just wants to make sure everything is okay before I die."

Troy looked at her sympathetically, feeling terrible for all she was going through. He wished he could slow time down a little, and prolong what Gabriella had left. He knew he couldn't, but it wouldn't stop him from wishing for a miracle any chance he got.

"You read to head over there?" Troy asked, "I'll come with you."

"In a little while," Gabriella said, smiling up at Troy. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "Thank you, for being so supportive and everything."

"That's okay," Troy said, sliding an arm around her and pulling her closer, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Review!


	11. Come Back to Me, part two

A/N: Ok, so please please forgive me for taking so long! I know that I've taken waaay too long to get this up and I promise that from now on it won't be nearly as long. For those of you who aren't really annoyed with me, please review. It really keeps me going.

Chapter 11

"Troy, please sit down."

Troy shook his head rapidly at Sharpay and continued pacing across the empty room. Only four of the many chairs were occupied, one each by Chad, Taylor, Kelsi and Sharpay. Troy had long ago abandoned his place next to Chad, too nervous to sit down.

"How can you be so calm?" Troy asked, plopping down in his chair, before quickly rising again, "I just don't understand why nobody else is nervous. Am I the only one that cares about Gabriella?"

"Troy, come on, please sit down," Sharpay tried again. Troy was wrong, they were all nervous...very nervous. They had been in the hospital for over an hour already and there was no news yet from anybody. They hadn't even seen Gabriella's parents in a while. They had been the only ones allowed to see her and the five teenagers were left alone to wonder. "Pacing isn't going to help anybody, and we still haven't managed to get a full story of what happened from you."

Troy sighed and tried to calm down a little, knowing he owed an explanation to his friends. When he had first arrived at the hospital, he had explained the whole thing to Gabriella's parents and the doctors, but he hadn't been able to tell his friends the whole thing. Repeating it twice was bad enough, he couldn't bear to tell it again.

Troy took a deep breath and sat down once again. "Her father," he started, "had cheated on her mom when Gabriella was little. Her mother had kicked him out, and she wanted nothing to do with him after that. He had tried contacting her again and again, at least to see Gabriella, but she was too angry to let him. That's why Gabriella hasn't seen him in so long and that's why he came back. He wanted to explain and ask for their forgiveness."

Taylor looked up at Troy, puzzled. "That's why he showed up at your house?"

Troy nodded. "I went over to talk to him with her. I was waiting outside, but I could hear the whole thing. Then Gabriella came outside, but she didn't even stop to see me. She just started running. So I followed her, and then she finally stopped."

Troy swallowed hard thinking about what had happened next. Gabriella had stopped running, a good distance form her house and just sat in the grass. She started crying, tears pouring hard down her face, as she sat there. Troy had been unsure of what to do. Technically, he wasn't even supposed to know what had happened, but he had sat down in the grass with her and just hugged her. She had cried into him for a long time, he remembered, but then her breathing started to get kind of funny.

"I still don't really know what happened. One second she had been crying, and the next she couldn't breathe. She got scared, I guess, and she tried to stand up but she couldn't. She said she was dizzy and that she couldn't breathe. Then I started losing her, she couldn't focus on me and she still couldn't breathe, so I called 911." Troy told his friends quietly, "and now we're here."

Troy stood up again, still unable to sit still. He loved Gabriella so much, and not being able to see her right now was the worst feeling in the world.

"Wow," Chad said in response to Troy's story, "What made her so upset in the first place. Just seeing her Dad and everything?"

Troy shrugged, unsure of the answer. That had been what was puzzling him in the first place. Gabriella was very upset, and had a right to be, but it just didn't seem like her to totally freak out like that. She was more the type to want to talk it through and work it out, not just run. And knowing Gabriella, she was probably mad. Mad at her mother for letting her problems affect Gabriella so bad, and mad at her father for cheating in the first place. That's why it was so weird that she just broke down.

Troy paced the room once again for a few minutes, glancing up at the clock every few seconds. He didn't understand what was taking so long, and all he could focus on was the memory of Gabriella being put into the ambulance, a look of terror across her face.

Troy could barely remember what he had said to her in those last few minutes after he called 911. He had told her something along the lines of not to worry, that everything would be fine and he remembered her clutching his hand as his her life depended on it. "Oh God, Troy, Oh God," she had said as the sirens blared in the background, "My heart Troy, what's wrong. I can't breathe." And then she had stopped talking all together.

Troy glanced at his friends as tears stung his eyes. Although they didn't show it as much as Troy, worry was clear on all of their faces. Taylor was gripping Chad's hand, Sharpay sat tense in her seat talking quietly to Kelsi, who had bitten off all her nails.

Troy glanced at the clock once more, before starting down the opposite hallway to find the nearest nurses station. He was sick of waiting, and he wanted answers.

As Troy approached the desk, the lady sitting behind it looked up and smiled at him. "May I help you?"

"I was just wondering if you knew anything about Gabriella Montez," Troy said, "We've been waiting for a while."

The woman looked down at her piles of papers and up at the clock. She knew the boy and his friends had been waiting for a while, she had seen them and heard their worried voices, but she really didn't know anything about the patient.

"I'm sorry," she told Troy hesitantly "I can't tell you anything yet. I have to wait for the doctor to give me more information."

Troy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his worry increasing. "Nothing at all?"

Frowning, the nurse glanced down the hallway behind her, hoping for a sign of the doctor dealing with Gabriella. He was nowhere in sight and she turned back to the young boy, hoping everything was alright. "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't."

"I don't understand," Troy said, almost laughing, "Why can nobody tell me anything? Is it really that hard?"

"Im sorry, it's just that-"

"You people gave her six months!" Troy said, his voice gradually getting higher and higher, "It's only been one! What is going on?"

"Calm down, I'm sure everything is fine," The nurse started, rising from her seat. She had seen this before, it was actually pretty common, but she hated it more and more each time, "Why don't you take a seat again, and I'll-"

"No!" Troy yelled, breathing heavily. He didn't want to take a seat, he wanted answers. He had been waiting long enough. He opened his mouth to say more, but was distracted when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned around to see Kelsi standing there.

"Troy, please, calm down," she pleaded, her voice soft and comforting. "We'll get answers eventually, and yelling isn't going to help. Right now Gabriella needs us to just have faith."

Troy looked at Kelsi, then back to the woman he had just been screaming at. As he swallowed a lump in his throat he nodded and took a deep breathe. He had to calm down, he just had to relax.

"I'm sorry," Troy said to the nurse, "I'm so sorry. I'm just really worried, it won't happen again."

The woman smiled softly at him "Look," the nurse said softly, "I can't tell you much, I didn't see your friend for very long, but from what I did see it didn't look terrible. This may not even be connected to her current condition, but you'll have to wait for the doctor to know for sure."

As the words left her mouth, Troy's chest tightened as the doctor made his way down the hallway behind them. His heart pounded as the doctor approached them, clipboard in hand.

"Troy Bolton?" the doctor asked as he stopped in front of him and Kelsi, "You're here with Gabriella Montez?"

Troy nodded quickly as he looked for a sign of hope on the Doctor's face. His face was serious, but soft at the same time. He had probably done this a million times before and Troy could only imagine how hard it must be. He was used to it though...used to the anxious faces awaiting news that would either be worth celebrating or worth crying over.

Now he just had to give the news on Gabriella Montez.


	12. Don't Worry, Be Happy

Okay, I know I promised you this much, much sooner, but I had an idea and I completely changed the direction this story is going. i know this chapter is short, but don't worry, there is more to come. Thank you all for being so patient, and please keep reviewing.

Chapter Twelve

Gabriella lay in her hospital bed, bored out of her mind, staring up at the white ceiling. She could hear her mother and father talking softly, whispering about things Gabriella's didn't want to worry herself with at the moment. She had been in the hospital for hours, and she wanted nothing more than to see her friends. It had been a crazy experience from the second she had run from the house and she wanted to put it behind her.

The doctor had told her she had experienced a panic attack. He said they were normal, some people would never have them and some people would have a lot during their life. Everything she had experienced was apparently normal, the increased heart rate, shallow breathing, but it had been terrorizing for Gabriella. She had never been so afraid in her life. The doctor told her everything had just gotten to be too much for her, the news about her parents and her current condition with cancer, as he put it, caught up to her.

Gabriella had talked to a therapist, who surprisingly calmed her down significantly, but the doctors still had to run tests and things to make sure everything was alright. Gabriella peered at the clock to her right, and sighed audibly, hoping her parents would get the hint.

Instead of her parents hearing her frustration, the nurse at the foot of her bed did. "Is everything okay Miss Montez?" her soft voice asked, sweet but with a twinge of exhaustion.

"Well," Gabriella started, noticing her mother's look of concern now as she spoke, "I'd just like to see Troy. Do my friends even know what happened yet?"

The nurse looked puzzled for a second, then turned to look at Mrs. Montez. "We need your mother's permission before we release any information to them."

"Mom!" Gabriella snapped, shaking her head. Troy had been panicked when she had the attack, and the last thing she saw before she passed out was his worried face. If he had been waiting for hours, he must have been going crazy. "I want to see Troy, Mom, give her permission please."

"I'm sorry, Sweetie," Mrs. Montez said, sighing softly, then nodded in the direction of the nurse, "You can get her friends. I'm sorry, I've just been a little distracted."

The nurse smiled and headed out the door, as Gabriella sighed and collapsed against her pillow once more. She knew her mother was distracted and worried about her, but nobody had bothered to ask her opinion on anything. Gabriella's father wanted to stay in Albuquerque, make up for lost time and get in some time with her while he could. Her mother, however, wasn't sure about this. They tried to do it quietly for Gabriella's sake, but she had realized they'd been arguing the whole time.

Gabriella sat up again, looking at her parents, when she was suddenly engulfed in a pair of arms squeezing her tightly. She felt soft kisses on her forehead and realized Troy had flown in out of nowhere. He was mumbling something inaudible as he kissed her, filling Gabriella with a warm feeling of being in his presence again.

Gabriella giggled a little from underneath Troy's arms. "Hi Troy."

"God, Gabriella, you really scared me today," he said as he pulled back slowly, grabbing her hand. "That had to be the worst three hours of my life."

Gabriella smiled at him, and shot a look at her parents, who were hovering nearby. "We'll give you two a few minutes alone," her mother said, pulling on her father's sleeve.

"You have no idea how worried we all were, they didn't tell us anything, I mean..."

Gabriella cut Troy off mid-sentence, planting her lips firmly against his. She had taken him by surprise, but he gladly kissed her back, lowering himself on the corner of her bed as he did. Gabriella pulled back after a few seconds and smiled.

"I scared you that much?" she asked teasingly, encouraging a small grin to appear on Troy's face.

"You have no idea," Troy said, his tone more serious now, but a playful grin still present on his face. "I even yelled at a nurse."

Gabriella laughed at the thought of Troy causing a scene, but was secretly happy that he cared that much. She knew that everything she had wanted to avoid in the beginning was happening. They were getting too attached to one another, unable to be apart for more than a few hours without missing each other, but Gabriella didn't care anymore. She loved him.

Troy gave Gabriella another quick kiss and plopped into the chair next to her bed. "So how long are you in here for?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know. I know they had to run some routine tests, because of the cancer and everything, but as far as I know I'm almost free to go." she said, then paused momentarily. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Okay, well this whole scare kind of got to me. Like I know it was totally unrelated to what's to come, but I don't want to waste any time. So you know the whole "list" of things I want to do before I die we've been doing things from?" Gabriella said, rather quickly, avoiding Troy's gaze. It was still a difficult subject to talk about.

"Yeah," Troy answered hesitantly, "Roller coasters, a lot of desserts, I know the list."

"Okay, well, I actually wrote a list before, on paper, and I plan on doing everything on there. And some of them are stupid, and some are bigger than others, but it means a lot to me." she said, "And I want to start tomorrow. It's a Monday, I know, but school can wait, right?"

Troy smiled and leaned closer to Gabriella, excited of the possibility of missing school to spend a day with his girlfriend. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, actually, this is big," she said, "really big. We'd have to miss a lot of school."

Troy's smile made it obvious he had no objection to missing school. "I'm in," he said quickly, excitement clear in his voice, "Where are we going?"

"Hawaii sound good?"


	13. Frogs and Kangaroos

A/N: Thank you all for putting up with me. But the good news is that school is finally out and I'll have a lot more time to write now. believe it or not, this story is almost done. I'm looking at anywhere from two to four more chapters. This chapter is a little on the short side, but again more to come. Review!

Hawaii. Gabriella wanted to go to Hawaii. When her daughter had pitched the idea to Mrs. Montez, she had almost immediately shot it down. It was too much, she figured, to have all of her friends miss a month of school to sit on a beach. There was no way their parents would let them.

But Gabriella had persisted. "I am dying, Mom, have you forgotten? And my friends already said they would go."

So Gabriella's mother agreed to _think_ about it. She had made no promises to her daughter, because in reality, she figured there was no way they'd be able to pull it off. But when she had talked to all the other kids' mothers, they said they thought the trip was an excellent idea. If it was what Gabriella wanted, then it was worth it.

So before she knew it, she had talked to a travel agent, booked a flight and bought a new suitcase. They had worked out the details. Mrs. Montez would be taking Gabriella, Troy, Taylor, Chad and Sharpay on a trip to Hawaii, because that was what Gabriella wanted. Luckily, one of Gabriella's mother's friends had agreed to come along to keep her mother company.

It was hard for her though, because she was going to have to pretend to have a good time in Hawaii, while in reality all she would be able to think about was her daughter's health. She thought Gabriella was being incredibly brave, putting off all her fears to enjoy her time, but her mother just couldn't do the same. Every time she looked at Gabriella there was a constant reminder of what was to come in just a few short months.

But she would do whatever she could to ignore it, because that was what Gabriella wanted.

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"This," Gabriella said, "is paradise."

Troy glanced over at his girlfriend, who was lying in the soft sand of the Hawaiian shore. She had been lying in the sand for an hour and a half now, just staring at the clouds. At first he didn't mind laying there with her, but now he was getting bored. Taylor, Chad and Sharpay had already headed off down the beach to explore and Mrs. Montez had gone shopping with her friend. They had just gotten to Hawaii that day, and Troy was antsy. He wanted to do more than sit in the same spot on the same beach.

"Gabriella," he said, trying to distract her, "Do you want to go in the water or something?"

"No."

Troy sighed, turning over on his back. Maybe if he could see what was so interesting to her, he could enjoy it too. "What are you looking at anyway?"

"I'm just really enjoying this, you know? Being here, in Hawaii, with you. It's insane," She rolled over on her side, facing Troy. "Am I boring you?"

"Not at all," Troy lied. After all, this whole trip was for her, he wanted her to be happy. If she wanted to sit here for two weeks straight, he would have done it.

Gabriella rolled over, so she was just inches away from Troy and laughed. "You're such a liar."

He turned to face her. "No. I could lay here and look at you all day."

Gabriella smiled and shook her head, ignoring the blush that she felt growing up her neck and face. She moved her hand into his, and he squeezed it gently. She knew he was bored out of his mind, but it was sweet that he would put up with it for her.

"Well," Gabriella said, pointing to the sky, "doesn't that cloud look like a frog?"

Troy glanced up at puffy white masses in the sky, trying to make out a frog. He hadn't done this since he was a little kid, sprawled out in his backyard. He laughed and shook his head. "That is _not_ a frog."

Gabriella looked back at the clouds. "Yes it is. There is clearly a frog head, and look, the feet..."

"No way," Troy said, cutting her off, "It's a kangaroo."

"What?"

Troy didn't answer, but turned back to look at Gabriella. She looked so serene, laying in the beige sand staring at the clouds. Her dark hair stood out against her white bikini, and she looked so happy that Troy felt a smile growing on his own face. He stared at her, watching the clouds go by, until she turned to him.

"What?"

He leaned over and planted a small kiss on her ear. "I love you," he whispered, running a hand through her soft hair. His finger ran through her hair, down past her ear and onto her neck.

Gabriella giggled a little and strayed from his touch. "That tickles," she said, "But I love you too."

Troy smiled and sat up. "Do you love me enough to go into the water now?"

Gabriella shook her head, laughing slightly, but sat up anyway and reached for his hand. "Okay, let's go."

The water was on the cold side, but so blue you could see right through it to the soft sand. Troy and Gabriella stood where it was up to their knees, inching their way deeper. Troy stood a few feet in front of Gabriella, and he turned back towards her.

"Are you going to stay there the whole time?" he asked, and she shrugged in response.

"You go first," she said, and as he turned around, she sprinted towards him. Her hands came into contact with his back at full force, and he fell forward, landing in the water with a splash.

Gabriella laughed and he stood up, now soaked from head to toe. His hair was dripping and matted to his head, his chest covered in sand. He ran a hand through his wet hair and stepped closer to Gabriella with a smile.

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" He asked.

Gabriella knew what he was going to do before he did it. She backed up, trying to get away from him, but he was faster than her. He grabbed her waist and spun her towards him, trapping her.

She squealed and laughed, trying to get away. "Troy, let me go."

He lifted her up and shook his head. "No way," he said with a laugh as he headed into the water deeper, carrying Gabriella in his arms as if she was a baby.

"Can I negotiate?" she said, tilting her head and locking eyes with Troy. He looked down at her in his arms and raised his eyebrows. She raised her face, connecting her lips with Troy's neck

"Montez..." he warned, trying to ignore her kisses on his neck. She was moving higher, leaving a trail of kisses along his jaw line. She ran a wet hand across his shoulder, and Troy had an urge to put her down so he could kiss her too.

"Troy," she whispered in between kisses, "put me down?"

He shook his head with a grin. "You wanna go down? Fine." Gabriella realized what he was going to do, and tried to grip his neck, but she was too late. He tossed her lightly, so she landed with a splash a few feet away from him. Her head dipped down under the water, and when she came back up she was drenched.

She shook her head and laughed. "We should have stayed on the sand."

Troy wiped a few drops of water off of her face. "Nah. This is nice."

He bent down, his lips about to connect with hers, when they heard a huge rumble. He pulled back, looking up at the sky. The clear blue they had watched just minutes before was covered with huge gray clouds, blocking out the sun.

"Thunder?" Gabriella asked, shaking her head, "But it was just nice out!"

Troy shrugged. "It's going to pour, but I guess it'll pass within an hour. Come on, let's go back up."

They headed out of the water, and back onto the sand. As they gathered their things, huge drops were beginning to splash down on them, plopping on their bare backs. Gabriella shook her head, pulling a coverup over her shoulders. "I can't believe the weather changed this fast."

Troy pulled a shirt on and shrugged as another huge clap of thunder rumbled over head. "Let's just get back inside."

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Ten minutes later, they pushed open the door to Gabriella's hotel room. She was sharing it with Sharpay and Taylor, but neither of them were around. Troy dumped their stuff on the floor and headed over to the window. It was pouring, and it didn't seem to be letting up.

"Well," he said, "I guess we're stuck inside for a little while. Should we grab lunch or something?"

Gabriella joined him by the window. She turned towards him, snaking her arms around his neck. "We could just stay here for a little while," she said, and placed her lips on his.

He kissed her back, the intensity rising each time. She ran her fingers through his wet hair and across his back, traveling down to find the bottom of his shirt. She pulled it up and over his head and tossed it aside.

He pushed her softly, until they were leaning against the wall. He trailed kisses down her cheeks and across her neck and shoulders. Her hair was still wet, and as Troy touched it, it dripped down her back, making her shiver. He captured her lips once again and her coverup came off.

As Troy reached the ties on her bathing suit, he stopped and pulled back, staring at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. As much as he wanted to keep going, he didn't want her to regret anything.

Gabriella stared at him, with just a slight smile on her face. "I love you," she whispered, so low he almost didn't hear it.

"I love you too."

Gabriella reached for Troy's hand, and placed it on the loose strings of her top. "Then I'm positive," she said, kissing him again as they fell backwards onto the bed.


End file.
